Pittsburgh will be the center of the American political universe the night before Election Day, when both candidates for president hold Downtown rallies less than 2 miles from one another.
And you thought Steelers traffic was bad.
Former President Donald Trump will be at PPG Paints Arena. But just a brisk 20-minute stroll away, Vice President Kamala Harris will host a concert and rally at Point State Park.
The dual events only emphasize the importance both candidates are placing on the Keystone State and Western Pennsylvania in particular.
“We’re down to brass tacks,” said Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University. “The Harris campaign appears to be pulling out of North Carolina and Arizona because it looks like it’s coming down to the ‘Blue Wall’ states.
“Reporting shows the Trump campaign sees the astonishing difference between male and female voters in Pennsylvania and is starting to panic. The confluence of those things is this focus on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.”
The state carries 19 electoral votes and is considered must-win in order to carry the presidency, and polling of its residents has Harris and Trump in a dead heat heading into Tuesday’s election.
“If you look at Nate Silver and Nate Cohn, both really solid polling aggregates say whoever wins Pennsylvania has a 99% chance of winning the presidency,” Dagnes said.
Even the city and county are clearing the decks in anticipation of road closures and traffic for Monday’s dueling rallies, announcing an early dismissal at noon Monday for all non-essential city and county workers.
“We want county and city employees to be able to get home safely and with minimal disruption,” Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and county executive Sara Innamorato said in a joint statement issued Friday. “We encourage everyone who visits downtown for a rally on Monday to respectfully and peacefully make their voice heard and we are looking forward to a smooth Election Day on Tuesday.”
The Harris rally and concert will be from 3-7 p.m. at Point State Park.
A quick jaunt up Fifth Avenue, however, will put you at PPG Paints Arena, where Trump’s rally is set to start around 6 p.m. Doors will open at 2 p.m. for attendees to get through security and enter the arena.
Harris will be pulling double-duty Monday, with CBS reports out of Philadelphia indicating she also has a rally planned there that will take place between 5-9 p.m.
Trump will be on a whirlwind tour of battleground states Monday that will see him log more than 1,200 travel miles. It starts with a 10 a.m. rally in Raleigh, N.C., followed by a 2 p.m. stop in Reading, a quick flight to Pittsburgh for the PPG Paints rally at 6 p.m. and one last trip west, for a final rally at 10:30 p.m. in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Both candidates also held dueling rallies Friday evening in Milwaukee in Wisconsin, a state Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020.
None of these campaign stops are by accident, Dagnes said. The rise of social media and the massive amount of personal data its most popular purveyors collect has allowed political campaigns to tailor their messages — and reach — to very specific groups of voters.
Dagnes said the Trump campaign’s use of targeted social media messaging in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns was impressive.
“He did it very well both years,” she said. “This time he’s making an even broader appeal, trying to reach demographic groups and mobilize them.”
Dagnes said the Harris campaign is one of persuasion.
“She’s going on media outlets from podcasts to cable news to network TV and satellite radio in order to reach those very-niche audiences,” she said. “She’s on ‘The View’ talking to mothers-in-law, but she’s also on the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast talking to younger women. To me, it’s a reflection of a very fragmented media audience.”